friends don't
by belgian quaffle
Summary: Five Times James and Lily's Friends Were Sure They Were More than Friends Plus One Time They Actually Were. Based on the song "Friends Don't" by Maddie & Tae


_1\. __They don't hear each other's names and forget to concentrate, hits a nerve and lights you up like dynamite_

"Fuck, this is going to kill me," Remus looks over the table at his best friend and laughs. James has his hands buried in his hair, messing it up even more than usual and is glaring down at his mechanical design homework with a fire Remus hasn't seen in him since they'd left their archrival behind in high school.

Remus shakes his head. "You'll be fine."

"You don't know that." James says petulantly.

"I do," Remus says patiently. "Since you're the best in the class and this isn't you not getting it; it's just you being a tired asshole,"

James grumbles a little more and Remus takes a sip of his coffee, annoyed to find that it's empty. He leaves James to wallow in self-pity and makes his way to the front of their favorite coffee shop to order another.

James is back to scribbling notes onto paper while simultaneously doing something on his laptop (and this motherfucker thinks that class is going to kill _him_, Remus rolls his eyes at the audacity). Remus slides across the coffee that he_ so nicely_ brought back for James and is thanked for his efforts with a grunt.

There are three girls settling into the table next to them as Remus takes his seat again and he prepares for the inevitable increase in noise. At first, it's not terrible- the soft rustle of papers and laptop keys clacking as they get their stuff out.

Then they start _talking_ and Remus tries to fight back the scowl.

James, the asshole that he is, isn't even affected by it. Still managing to take notes _and_ work through the assignment on his laptop at the same time, like they're not even there.

If he wasn't such a good friend, helping Remus with anything and everything he needed, Remus might hate him.

"Shit!" One of the girls exclaims suddenly, which is right when Remus loses it and reaches in his bag for his headphones. Spotify will be better than this, he's sure. "I don't even know! Let's just ask somebody."

"I'll text Lily," Another girl says and James' hand slips on his computer.

Remus watches, fascinated, as he brings it back up and begins scrolling again. Much, _much_ more slowly. There's a dazed look in his eyes, like he's not even reading what's on the screen.

The pencil's still hanging loosely in James' hand, dangling like he's forgotten it's even there. There's the _smallest_ of smiles on his face, gentle and easy, like he's thinking about football, beer, sunny days at the beach with his friends-any of the things that make him happiest and _not_ mechanical engineering homework.

And it hits Remus, that _he is_ thinking of one of the things that makes him happiest. Or rather, a person.

"Hey!" Remus snaps his fingers.

"What?" James blinks a few times as he comes back to reality. His pencil falls out of his hand and lands on the floor.

Remus can't bring himself to call James out for this, like he would have under _any other circumstance_. "Just had a question for you about problem twelve,"

* * *

_2\. Friends don't call you in the middle of the night, couldn't even tell you why, they just felt like saying "hi"_

It's late when Marlene stumbles home from the bar, but her stat exam had _killed_ her that day and she _deserved_ to go out and get trashed.

Frankly, she'd been looking to not come home _at all _tonight, but the prospects had been a bit bleak. So she'd stuck it out with Black and Pettigrew, all the way up until the end of the night when they closed the bar down with that Celine Dion song from the Titanic and everyone left sung along at their drunken best (or their sloppy worst, she's not here to judge), only to make them walk her home since it was clear no one else was going to.

She finally gets her key in the lock and closes the apartment door again. She's _starving_ and fuck if she's not going to demolish last night's leftover pizza before she climbs into bed.

As she's pulling it out of the fridge, she hears a giggle and so she pauses, straining her ears to listen.

Another giggle.

Marlene is suspicious, not suspicious enough to leave her pizza behind, but once she's got two slices in hand, she pokes her head around the corner to see what's up.

Lily's light is on.

Marlene stops in the open doorway. Her roommate is lying in her bed, a smile on her face as she talks into her phone. "Yeah, I guess so. Good night. No! No!" She laughs. "Good night," The smile is still on her face as she pulls it away from her ear.

"Who was that?" Marlene asks, through a mouthful of pizza, even though she has a pretty good idea already from the warm smile on her best friend's face.

"Oh my god!" Lily gasps. "You scared me!"

Marlene grins, but chooses not to comment on how Lily _didn't _notice her come in, despite the ruckus she _definitely_ caused in the kitchen looking for her pizza. She jumps forward, landing on the end of Lily's bed and leaning against the wall to get comfortable. "Who was that?" She presses again, because she's an asshole when she's drunk.

"You better not get pizza grease on my bed," Lily ignores the question in favor of scolding her, but Marlene can see her cheeks starting to go pink.

"Too late," Marlene says cheerfully. There's grease _all over_ her hands that's definitely transferred to Lily's bed.

"Marley!"

Marlene is too drunk to play this game anymore. If Lily's going to beat around the bush, she's just going to come out and ask, "What'd James want?"

Aaaannnddd...Lily's cheeks are full-on red. "What makes you think it was James?" She asks, avoiding Marlene's eyes.

"That reaction." Marlene snorts out a laugh. "So come on, what'd he want?"

Lily sighs. "Nothing really."

Marlene's eyebrows fly up. "Nothing?" She repeats, skeptically. "He called you, for _"nothing really"_ at 2am?"

"Yeah," There's another smile growing across Lily's face. "We were just...just talking."

Marlene opens her mouth to tease her before she processes the smile on Lily's face. Fond. Gentle, easy. Like...like she doesn't even realize it's there.

God if she hasn't realized yet...Marlene is not going to be the asshole who fucks it up for her.

"Well," She says instead, pushing herself off Lily's bed to go to her own (and maybe get some more pizza). "The next time you two losers are still up at this hour, you could just join us at the bar instead,"

* * *

_3\. They don't almost say "I love you" when they're downtown somewhere, just a little drunk_

Pete's just looking for the bathroom, ok. He doesn't want to cause trouble, he's not looking to get lost again, and he's _certainly_ not looking to stumble upon something he doesn't mean to.

How this shit always happens to him, he doesn't know.

He pushes through the crowd of women waiting for the ladies' room, which, according to Fabian Prewitt, is supposed to lead to the hallway to the men's room. There's a hallway-success!-but so far, no men's room, and Pete presses on, wondering if the absolutely plastered best man was possibly the best person to ask for directions out of their entire group.

As he thinks he's nearing the end of the hallway (annoyed about the lack of bathroom), he finds there's one more turn, and he rounds the corner, only to abruptly jump back around the corner.

He peaks back around. James is slumped against the wall, running his fingers through his hair, his phone pressed against his ear. "Lily!"

Motherfucker, he _did not_ want to stumble on something he didn't mean to tonight.

"Lily!" James grins in that easy way of his, his eyes a little glassy like they always get when he's been drinking. "Nothing, what are you doing?"

Pete can't believe this guy is one of the most eligible bachelors on campus. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and starts recording. He won't _actually_ send it around to the entire campus-more likely, to their roommates or the rest of the guys at this bachelor party so he can be roasted for it tomorrow.

In front of him, James laughs, loudly like he always does when he's drunk, and scoffs. "Studying? It's a Saturday! You should be having fun!"

Whatever Lily's response is, it brings out another laugh. James looks so fond as the two of them exchange a few quips back and forth about her Saturday plans. This is not the face of a man "so single he was the best in the album ba-dum chhh."

No. Pete thinks slowly, taking in his friend's...everything. This looked more like the face of a man-

"I love..." Pete holds his breath, feeling like he's intruding on what could be the biggest moment to date of James and Lily's non-relationship but unable to look away. James, always so sure and confident in himself, sounds so hesitant. "Beer." He laughs into the phone, but from the abrupt change in his tone, Pete's sure that isn't what he was originally going to say. "Yeah, I should get another one! You're so smart! Bye Lily!"

He hangs up the phone, cradling it in his lap for a minute. Pete stops recording, but somehow, the joke doesn't seem as funny anymore.

He deletes it without another look and turns, resuming his search for the bathroom.

* * *

_4\. They don't talk about the future and put each other in it, and get chills with every accidental touch_

"Alice!" She'd recognize that squeal anywhere and sure enough, when the petite brunette turns, she sees the familiar redhead running toward her.

"Lily!" Alice pulls the girl who'd felt like an actual little sister since she'd been graced with the pseudo-title when they were paired during sorority recruitment during Lily's freshman year in for a hug. "How are you?"

"Good! I'm good," Lily's beaming and she's reaching her hand out. Alice should have known this was coming. "But come on! I want to see the ring."

Alice grins and shoves her left hand forward. The princess cut diamond catches the sunlight, reflecting into the eyes of some of the crowd surrounding them in this Homecoming Tailgate; she sees the group of guys next to them looking around trying to find the source of brightness.

Lily doesn't care, gasping appropriately about the beautiful diamond that Alice's high school sweetheart (and boyfriend of now 10 years) had bestowed upon her shortly after they had moved into their apartment, only a few months after graduating last spring. "Alice! It's beautiful! Have you started planning?"

"Not really?" Alice shrugs. "We've looked at a couple venues. Thinking next fall."

Lily smiles gently. "Fall will be beautiful,"

Alice shrugs again-it's very tentative and still a hot point of contention, as her future mother-in-law continues to push for a spring wedding- and changes the subject. "What's new with you?"

Lily bites her lip. "Just thinking about law school mostly."

Alice can't help but laugh at how nervous her friend is. "You'll get in."

Lily shrugs but smiles bashfully. "Hopefully. My top choice is in Chicago, so we might head out there after graduation."

It's out before Alice can stop it. "We?"

Lily nods. "Me and James."

Alice keeps a smile schooled on her face but peeps her eyes over in James' direction as Lily discusses how they're not quite sure about being so far from either of their families but that there's great opportunities for both of them in the city. She's sure _someone_ would have updated her if there'd been a change in the relationship status of James and Lily; it'd been silence all semester so far.

She turns to gaze back to Lily, who's still smiling as she talks about her plans after graduation-which evidently, include this man who _still_ isn't her boyfriend. "That sounds awesome, Lils!" Alice smiles enthusiastically. "I can't wait to come visit, wherever you guys end up."

* * *

_5\. Friends don't stand around, playing with their keys, finding reasons not to leave, trying to hide the chemistry_

Lab ran so fucking late that night; Mary is _pissed_ when she pulls into a parking spot on the street in front of their building. She's got her dinner in a take-out bag in the passenger seat next to her and her backpack on the floor in front of it, where she'd thrown it angrily after running out of the building, so annoyed at her group for their incompetence.

She reaches over to pick it up, but draws back suddenly, when a couple in front of the door (_her door,_ god, why are they blocking her from getting inside to eat her burrito) catches her eye.

Actually, it's the hand that reaches up to brush through messy black hair that catches her eye because that could be no one else besides James Potter.

And sure enough, when he takes the slightest step to the side, Mary catches the sight of the red hair that belongs to her best friend.

She slips down lower in her seat, hoping they don't see her.

And then she slides back up just an inch higher, to see over her dashboard, because she's in the prime position to spy on them.

James' keys are in his other hand (the right one, the one that he doesn't constantly run through his hair), and he moves them through his fingers as he and Lily continue to chat. Mary wishes desperately she could hear them, especially when Lily blushes and James laughs.

She doesn't have any popcorn, but she reaches for the tortilla chips that came with her burrito, munching mindlessly, as she watches Lily swat at James' forearm. He barely reacts (of course not, he gets tackled on a regular basis; Lily's baby swat is nothing to him), but when she reaches out to do it again, he grabs her hand.

Mary gasps, promptly chokes on a tortilla chip crumb that flies to the back of her throat, wonders briefly is this is how she's going to die.

She decides she doesn't even care if it is when she sees James step closer to Lily, looking down at her adoringly (like he always does when she's not looking). Lily's returning smile is equally fond, tilting her head, and Mary's dead. This is it. The moment everyone thought would never come. James is leaning in and Lily's leaning up to meet him and she is going to die in her car choking on a tortilla chip, but honestly, that may be even less surprising than James and Lily finally getting-

HONK! HONK! "JP!" The car full of rookies driving by shouts, waving. "Whaddup?"

What the _actual _fuck.

James and Lily _jump_ apart and Mary's jaw drops. "No," She mutters, as they both look down at the ground. "No, no, no," She repeats helplessly, as they step even further away, avoiding all eye contact. "You-"

But it's too late. James is turning back toward his car, Lily's already pulling open the door that leads to their apartment.

Mary slumps down even further in her seat. On the bright side, at least her tombstone won't say, "Died choking on a tortilla chip" even if that is wildly on brand.

* * *

_+1. I keep telling myself this might be nothing, but one look in your eyes and, God, there's something. You can lie to me and say you don't, but I know you do, and I love you too_

Sirius is on record (in multiple forms of media) having said that there's no such thing as a bad party. He's said it, he meant it. His enthusiasm as either a guest or a host matches only his enthusiasm for dancing and drinking-none of which can be found in greater quantities than at parties.

His _only _pet peeve is when boundaries are crossed. He'd made it _impossible_ to get up to the third floor (Pete had tried and failed _multiple_ times; there's no way the gen pub is getting up there), so _how_ is he hearing voices on his secret journey up there to get his secret stash of Bacardi (he's got a pretty girl to impress; he's got to break out the slightly-better-than-Malibu rum).

"Lily." James sounds...shit, James sounds _wrecked,_ and Sirius pauses on the steps. This isn't some rando trying to rifle through their shit. James is...what the hell is going on?

Does he need to jump in with a rescue or back track like a bro?

"Lily," James repeats in that same tone and it's then that Sirius realizes what it is. _Pleading_. "Come on,"

"James," Lily-are those _tears_? God knows they can't be from sadness; Lily's been as into this as James has.

"Lily, you can't tell me you don't see this too!"

And Lily, god _Lily_, just breathes out the _shakiest_ breath. The floor is trembling under Sirius, the bass from the party two floors below them still pumping, but he can hear the unsteadiness in her breathing. She pulls another shaky breath in and then-

"I do," She says and Sirius fist pumps, he can't help himself. It's the moment he's been waiting for, the moment _James _has been waiting for. It'll be the wedding of the century for- "But-"

"There are no but's for me," James says softly. "I love you,"

Sirius doesn't know how his gasp isn't heard. How James and Lily don't seem to notice that extra noise. Once again, the pull of their own world is so much stronger than reality.

"I love you too," Lily's voice is _so soft_, such a contrast from her typical inability to attain a normal acceptable indoor volume.

It's definitely time for Sirius to nope the fuck out of there. If he can't get his Bacardi, he'll have to really ramp up the charm.

It shouldn't be hard with how excited he is.

* * *

**A/N: **ask me how many times i listened to this song while writing this? section headers are lyrics quoted from the song _friends don't _by maddie & tae, and _my heart will go on_ by celine dion is also mentioned in this!

many thanks to clevernotbrilliant on hpft for running this lovely challenge and to sibiliant for squeeing over it for me before i posted it


End file.
